After a trial, the district court denied relief and dismissed the taxpayers' complaint. It concluded that under § 79-10,105, we have upheld the use of lease-purchase agreements to make school improvements without the voters' approval if the project is not funded by bonded debt. The court found that the school district had not funded the project through bonded indebtedness.

Because the addition has been completed, we address the issues presented under the public interest exception to the mootness doctrine. We conclude that a lease-purchase agreement is not the issuance of a bond under § 79-10,105. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

Dodge County School District 0062, Scribner-Snyder Community Schools, is a Class III school district. At some point in 2009, the State Fire Marshal declared that the high school building had several safety concerns and code deficiencies. The marshal gave the district until January 2014 to make corrections. The district's superintendent worked with an architectural firm and construction manager to obtain cost estimates for their work on improvements and then made recommendations to the board for a bond proposal.

In March 2012, the voters rejected a $7.5 million bond proposal to construct additional classrooms and renovate the existing building. Afterward, the district asked the construction company and architectural firm to modify its project. The new plan called for adding an additional six classrooms in a detached preengineered metal building. The estimated construction cost was $623,000. The district did not submit a bond proposal to the voters for the modified project. The school board president testified that the district had funds to pay for the modified project but that it could not have done so without borrowing money to pay its monthly bills.

[290 Neb. 743] In June 2012, the school board passed a resolution to authorize the superintendent to create a nonprofit " leasing" corporation, which would be controlled by the district, to make the improvements and lease the building back to the district. The superintendent and two school board members served as the corporation's board of directors. The resolution stated that it did not constitute the board's final approval of the project's financing or the leasing corporation's issuance of any bond obligations. In July, the school board authorized a lease-purchase agreement with the leasing corporation. The leasing corporation's board then approved a resolution authorizing the corporation to issue " certificates of participation" to a bond underwriter to solicit buyers. The leasing corporation intended to raise a maximum principal of $750,000 through bonds with a maximum interest rate of 3 percent. When the underwriter sought interested buyers (primarily banks), Scribner Bank expressed interest in " buying" the entire lease-purchase agreement.

In October 2012, the school board received construction bids and the taxpayers filed their complaint, alleging that the lease-purchase agreement with the leasing corporation violated § 79-10,105. They sought a declaration that the district's lease-purchase agreement was unlawful and an injunction barring the district from taking action in furtherance of the agreement. They did not seek a temporary restraining order.

Page 747

On November 1, 2012, the district changed course and entered into a lease-purchase agreement with Scribner Bank, which agreed to finance the project (the addition and its equipment). The leasing corporation never issued any bond certificates. The new lease-purchase agreement called for the district to lease the building site to the bank so that the bank could make and pay for the improvements, with the district acting as the bank's agent in making the improvements. The bank agreed to pay the costs of the project up to $750,000. The district was unconditionally obligated to pay the " Base Rentals" and " Additional Rentals." The base rental payments were set out in a schedule to repay $750,000 in principal [290 Neb. 744] plus interest. The parties incorporated the legal fees and underwriter fees for the original bond program into the principal indebtedness. The additional rental payments were the district's obligations to pay for taxes, utilities, insurance, and legal fees.

The agreement provided that the lease term ended in November 2019 or upon the earliest of four events: (1) the month in which the district paid its base rental obligation; (2) August 31 of any fiscal year in which the district failed to appropriate payments toward its obligations; (3) the date on which the district purchased the leased property by paying for the base rentals and additional rentals; or (4) upon the district's default on its obligations. If a default occurred, the district's accrued obligations continued and it lost the right to possess the leased property. It agreed to vacate the site and return the equipment to the bank if it defaulted. The attorney who prepared the lease-purchase agreement testified as a bond expert for the district and stated that the agreement did not constitute a bond. But he admitted that the interest paid to the bank was tax-exempt income for the bank, just like the interest paid on bonds.

In a separate project construction agreement, the bank agreed to make the planned improvements, with the school district acting as its agent. The bank did not participate in the design and work decisions. In a site lease agreement, the district leased the school building and the property underlying the proposed addition to the bank for $1 for the entire lease period. In this agreement, the district warranted that the site was not subject to any encumbrances and not threatened by environmental hazards. Before signing these agreements, the district paid for surveying work and an environmental study. It had also paid for an architectural firm's services. On November 12, 2012, the school board explicitly abandoned its plan to finance the project through its leasing corporation by repealing the authorizing resolution. On the same day, the construction company and the architectural firm signed addendums to their agreements with the school district. They acknowledged that the district had assigned its rights and obligations under [290 Neb. 745] the original agreements to the bank and would be working as the bank's agent.

The project was completed in August 2013, before the trial began in September. The evidence showed that the detached building was built in sections at a factory, assembled at the site, and set in a permanent foundation. The district planned to pay its obligations within 4 to 5 years. It was making payments out of a special building fund at the time of trial but intended to make payments out of its general funds.

After a bench trial, the court issued an order that denied relief for the taxpayers and dismissed their complaint. The court concluded that the Legislature had acquiesced in this court's interpretations of § 79-10,105 in George v. Board of Education[1]

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and Foree v. School Dist. No. 7.[2] It reasoned that in Foree, we did not interpret &sect; 79-10,105 to preclude a school from entering into a lease-purchase agreement for school improvements. The court further noted that in Banks v. Board of Education of Chase County,[3] this court held that architectural fees are general expenses, not building expenditures that a school district must submit to the voters. It stated that the taxpayers would have been better served by a transparent discussion and input from the taxpayers and that the school board's actions appeared to be a " back-door effort to circumvent the will of the voters." But it concluded that we have held " the lease purchase of a school building is allowed without the ...

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